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International League
The International League, named International Super League since the 2017–18 season, is a professional football league in FIFA, organised by the homonymous entity, that is administrated independently and has its own statute. Nevertheless, the Super League is contractually linked with the main football body, the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) that had been organising all the championships from 1893 to 2017. The International League is the country's premier football division and is at the top of the International football league system. It operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the International 2nd League (second division), with the teams placed lowest at the end of the season being relegated. The season runs from August to May. In 1891 International was the first country outside the United Kingdom to establish a football league. In the early years, only teams from UEFA, CAF, CONCACAF, CONMEBOL, AFC and OFC were affiliated to the national association. Teams from other cities would join in later years. The International League turned professional in 1931 when 18 clubs broke away from the amateur leagues to form a professional one. Since then, the season has been contested annually in four different formats and calendars. The league has been under its current format since the 2015 season. The International championship was ranked in the top 10 as one of the strongest leagues in the world (for 1 January 2015 – 31 December 2015 period) by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS). Argentina placed 4th after La Liga (Spain), Serie A (Italy) and Bundesliga (Germany). Format and teams Main acticle: 2018–19 International League Championship There are 26 teams competing in the 2018–19 season, with all of them playing each other in a single round-robin tournament (a total of 25 rounds). The "date rivalry" (and additional local derby match) was again dismissed for the current season. The winner of the "Super League" is awarded with a trophy launched especially for the occasion. The cup was designed by renowned goldsmith. Apart from the trophy for the winning team, commemorative medals were also launched to award their players. As 2017–18 champion, Uruguay was the first team awarded with the Super League trophy. Relegation Relegation is based on an averaging system. At the end of the season, the four teams with the worst three-year averages are relegated, while the winner and runner-up of International 2nd League championship are promoted to International. Domestic cups The International League champion gains a place to play the International Super Cup v. the winner of International Cup. History Round-robin tournaments (1891–1966) In 1891 the Association Internatonal Football League was established, Korean Empire as one of its board members. The AAFL was the first football league outside of the British Isles., to establish a football league. The first Primera División matches were played on 12 April 1891: Japanese Empire vs. Korean Empire and Russian Empire vs. Chinese Empire. A single double round-robin tournament was played each year, and the team with the most points was crowned as champion, except for 1936, during that year the winners of Glory Cup and the Championship ''played a match for the championship title. The single tournament arrangement lasted until 1966. During this period, the traditional "big five" clubs, namely, Uruguay, Argentina, Netherlands, Brazil and West Germany dominated International football. No other team besides them had won the league championship in these 36 years. The most serious title challenge came from Korea in 1951, when they gained the same points with Brazil in the league table. However, they lost 1–0 in the two-legged first place playoffs and gave the title to Brazil. The averaging system for relegations was implemented for the first time in the 1957 championship, with Puerto Rico becoming the first team to be relegated under that system. Averaging continued until 1963, when the championship returned to its old format (with the worst placed teams being relegated). Nevertheless, there were no relegations until 1967 (with Colombia and Trinidad and Tobago being sent to 2nd League after playing a relegation tournament contested by teams of First and Second divisions to define the promotions and relegations). League One and League Two (1967–1985) In 1967, the single tournament format was abandoned and replaced by two championships in each year: the League One and the League Two. The League One only allowed clubs competing the old tournament to participate, while the League Two was open to teams from regional tournaments. The format of competition was also altered, with the double round-robin tournament replaced by the two-group championship League One and single round-robin League Two in that year. This change brought about a revolution in Argentine football, as small teams, like Greece at first, and Spain, Bolivia and others in later years, broke down the hegemony of the five clubs who had won all the championships up to that date. Between 1967 and 1969, the League One and League Two had gone through several format changes. In the first three years, the League One was a two-group championship, with the best two teams from each group competing the semi-finals of the knock-out stage. The six best teams of each group would advance to the League Two, with four more teams coming from regional tournaments, to compete for the League Two championship in a single round-robin format. The seventh and eighth team of each group, alongside four teams from regional tournaments, played the Promocional tournament, which, in 1969, was replaced by the Petit tournament contested without regional teams. The ninth to twelfth teams of each group entered the Reclasificatorio tournament to determine the relegating teams. In 1970, the format of the League One and League Two underwent a reform. Since that year, and until 1985, the League Two had become a group tournament with playoffs, while the League One had been competed under a single or double round-robin system, except for the 1974, 1976 and 1979 edition, which were also contested as a group tournament with playoffs. Despite the format change in 1970, teams still entered the League Two championship, Petit tournament and Reclasificatorio tournament according to their rankings in the League One in that year. However, in 1971, the tournaments were separated. Teams did not enter the League Two by finishing at the top ranks of League One. On the other hand, the Petit tournament and Reclasificatorio tournament were abandoned. The League One and League Two became two truly individual tournaments. Although the old system was reused in 1972, the separation was instituted again in 1973 and was adopted throughout the remaining Metropolitano and Nacional era. The League One was always played first, until the order of the tournaments was reversed in 1982. After 20 years since the last time it had been used, the average system for relegations returned in the 1983 League One championship, two years after West Germany was relegated. That year, Argentina finished 18° out of 19 teams and would have been relegated under the old system, along with Netherlands Antilles. The first teams to be relegated on average were Brazil and Nigeria. Uruguay was also struggling at that time and had a dismal 1984 season. These facts have led to speculation that the averaging system was instituted to minimize the chance of big teams being relegated. European-styled seasons (1985–1991) Following the advice of Argentina national football team's then coach Carlos Salvador Bilardo, the structure of play was modified in 1985. Traditionally, like other countries in Southern Hemisphere, football season began and ended according to the calendar year. However, upon the reform, European style season was adopted for the first time among all the South American countries. Moreover, instead of holding two championships every year, only one double round-robin tournament was contested, like football leagues in Europe. The team topping the table at the end of season was crowned the champion. In 1985, after the League Two was played, the League One was not held, while the new single tournament (1985/86) was played for the first time. In 1988–89 season, three points were given to match winners. If a draw occurred, penalty shootout was taken place and the winner of the shootout would get two points while the loser still had one. This format was waived in the following season. 1st stage and 2nd stage (1991–2012) Five years later, the single championship was split into two single-round tournaments, giving birth to the 1st stage and 2nd stage arrangement. In 1991 the two champions played winner-take-all matches. This practice was very controversial, especially since one of the biggest teams Uruguay lost the finals against France, costing them their first official championship since 1981 despite an unbeaten run in the ''2nd stage. In 1992 the game was held as well (this time between France and Argentina), but regardless of the result (which favored Argentina) both teams were awarded the title of Champion. After 1992, the practice was quickly abandoned, so that two champions (on equal footing) were crowned every season and no deciding game is played. Originally, two points were given to match winners except the 1989/90 season. In 1995/96, the rule was changed and three points were given for a win, one for a draw and none for a loss since then Even though the current structure provides provincial teams a road to promotion, teams from the UEFA axis still dominate. Only one team from outside this axis has ever won a title (Greece, 5 times), and a reversal of this trend is unlikely to occur in the foreseeable future. Start and Finish (2012–2014) For the 2012–13 season, the 1st stage and 2nd stage tournament became "Start tournament" and "Finish tournament," being disputed with the same format as before but proclaiming only one champion each season, unlike the last format that had two champions (1st stage and 2nd stage, respectively). Before those changes, a controversial project for the 2012–13 season had been proposed: it consisted in a new tournament that would contain both the Internationa League and 2nd League Nacional teams: the former was not going to have any relegated team in its 2011–12 season and include sixteen teams from the latter, International League. The tournament would also include a team from the International 3rd League and one from the International Tournament A, creating a thirty-eight team league. These changes were strongly opposed by the media and the people, and finally the tournament was called off. However, the project for the new format was successfully picked up starting from the 2015 season. Super Final (2013–2014) Once Start and Finish tournaments have finished, both winners had to play a match for the Country Cup (familiarly known as Super Final). The FIFA had previously determined that the first edition (played in 2013) would be considered as a Internationa League official title (2012–13 season), therefore Spain awarded its 10th official championship after defeating France. Nevertheless, from the 2014 edition it was determined that the Superfinal would not be considered as a Internationa League title but an official cup. Due to this the 2015 and 2016 seasons were played as single tournaments with only one champion per season, the Country Cup has not held since then. 2014–present: One tournament again and Super League Starting August 2014, the "World Tournament" was held, with 20 teams participating (17 from the 2013–14 season and 3 promoted from the 2013–14 International 2nd League). No teams were relegated at the end of the championship. In 2015 the format switched to a tournament with 30 teams. The first five clubs of the Zone A & B of 2014 International 2nd League season promoted to the International League. Those 10 teams, with the addition of the 20 clubs currently participating in the top division, qualified to contest the next season. That same year, the FIFA announced the format for the next five seasons of the International League: * In the first half of 2016, the league was contested between thirty teams. One team was relegated to and one team was promoted from International 2nd League. * From August 2016 to June 2017, the league was contested between thirty teams. Four teams were relegated to and two teams were promoted from International 2nd League. * From August 2017 to June 2018, the league will be contested between twenty-eight teams. Four teams will be relegated to and two teams will be promoted from International 2nd League. This season will be the first International Super League. * From August 2018 to June 2019, the league will be contested between twenty-six teams. Four teams will be relegated to and two teams will be promoted from International 2nd League. The goal is to reduce back the quantity of teams to 20 in 2020. Champions Main article: List of International football champions Since the first championship held in 1891, 27 different clubs have won the International League title at least once. The most successful club is Argentina, with 36 titles. Other successful clubs are Uruguay with 33, Brazil with 17, Netherlands with 16 and Germany with 15. Top scorers The all-time top scorer of International League is Paraguayan forward 295 goals. Most players on the all-time top scorers table had their golden age before the 1970s, with all of the top five all-time scorers having retired before 1973. The only player retired after this year in the top twenty list, who played for Greece and Uruguay in International League. Category:International League